Disclaimer: Check chapter one
Chapter Fourteen^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Inundated with emotions, he stepped back and traced a cold finger down her neck, watching her still shuttered eyes blink open. She stood rigid, her song silenced, feelings running warm through her body.
The moment was shattered when she burst into tumultuous laughter, echoing in a parody against the frozen trees. She threw her head back, and stepped away from him, deeper into the chill water.
"My companion has been thrown into the dungeons, my friend has been murdered, and I am out in the woods embracing a Prince! Surely this has all thrown me into a state of insanity… what has come over me… I am a guard, not an elf to be dallying in the forest…"
He studied her, concerned, and stepped forwards to take her arm when she stumbled. He held her cold-darkened hand to his chest, and felt her shiver; whether from helplessness or the temperature he did not know.
"Do not touch me! I am supposed to be protecting you… Rivendell… my comrades."
She tried to yank her hand away, but he held fast and gripped her body tighter to him. She silenced then, and shut her fiery eyes. His body sensed the tremors running through her, reminiscent of the time when she was possessed, taken by nightmares, silenced for days.
Without a word, he bent and scooped her legs out from beneath her. The added weight of her soaking, frozen dress did naught for the simplicity of the task, but he carried her out of the water with relative ease. Vexed by his boldness, she twisted out of his grasp, and fell on her knees in the textured woodland moss.
"What sort of twisted reality is this, Legolas? It is almost like I am seeing the world through shards of a broken mirror…"
"Lady, you cannot be thinking straight, you are freezing, and I should get you inside as soon as possible-all we need is one more problem! Open your ears and listen, before I have to take you by force."
Silenced, she shut her eyes and buried her oval face in slender hands, wiping away nonexistent tears.
Gently he picked her up, and carried her slowly inside, with such informality from a distance you would guess he was carting a satchel of goods, destined for the palace.
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He placed her sprawled on her side on top of her creamy bed sheets, eyes wide open, but an expressionless face. Legolas pulled over a chair, and sat down quickly, studying her intensely.
Her once elegant gown was now almost translucent, clinging to her warrior's body like film from a cake of soap. Golden-brown curls turned deep chestnut from the damp, spiraling furiously down her back. Face like a harvest moon, but ghostly white, profile cut in ivory granite. She looked sickly, tired, spent. His eyes trailed down her body, stopping when he realized how vulnerable she really was. Doing his best to keep his every rampant emotion in check, he walked to her chest of drawers and pulled out a blanket, which he threw over her with a wave of his tired arms.
Fiothiel heard the blanket crack in the air, and snapped quickly out of her stupor. He noticed her eyes snap open, and tucked the quilt neatly around her. She sat up, wrapped snug.
"I-" she opened her mouth to speak.
He leaned over closer to her, and put his thumb gently on her cold lips.
"Save your energy, dinaera, for as the sun rises tomorrow, I will take you to see Isorfir."
She moved her head up, down in a sort of nod, and he ran his calloused hand over her shoulder, gently tracing the raised line of her collarbone.
Stopping the caress of his hand, she took it in her own and kissed the back with a feather light touch of her lips.
"Diola lle."
With a slight smile gracing his lips, he took his leave.
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